poikiliticadj.

1832 W. D. Conybeare in Rep. Brit. Assoc. 379 The next geological group..beneath the lias and oolites, is that..characterized by the new red or variegated sandstone... I will venture therefore to propose the term Pœcilite..and hence denominate the group, pœcilitic. Brongniart has already adopted the Gallicised form Pœcilien.

1836 W. Buckland Geol. & Mineral. II. 38 The word Pœcilitic is in sound so like to Pisolite, that it may be better to adhere more literally to the Greek root ποικίλος, and apply the common name of Poikilitic group to the strata in question.

1846 H. T. De la Beche in Mem. Geol. Surv. Great Brit. I. 239 Poicilitic or New Red Sandstone Series.

1861 Englishwoman's Domest. Mag. 3 59 The reconstruction of the cretaceous, poikilitic, oolitic, or silurian landscape, peopled with revivified Batrachians.

1885 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 2) 748 The term ‘Poikilitic’ was formerly proposed for them, on account of their characteristic mottled appearance.

1892 Iowa Citizen 9 Sept. 7/4 Geologists also conclude that the formation of the Laurentian, Cambrian and silurian strata occupied a period of about 200,000,000 years; the red sandstone, the carboniferous and the poecilitic systems another 200,000,000 years, [etc.].

1886 G. H. Williams in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 131 30 This structure is so common in many massive rocks, especially in the more basic kinds, that I would venture to suggest the use of the term ‘poicilitic’ (derived from the Greek ποικίλος, mottled) for it.

1893 G. H. Williams in Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 1 177 This term was at first incorrectly spelled poicilitic and subsequently corrected by Prof. Dana to its Latin form, poecilitic... Its preferable orthography is, however, that given above [sc. poikilitic]. At the time it was proposed the writer was not familiar..with the designations..poecilitic and poikilitic, given successively..to the ‘New Red’ sandstone.

1909 F. P. Mennell Introd. Petrol. xii. 87 (caption) Poecilitic structure, in picrite, Belingwe, Rhodesia. (Olivine enclosed in enstatite).

1954 H. Williams et al. Petrogr. ii. 19 (caption) Poikilitic texture in hornblende peridotite, Odenwald, Germany.

1964 E. Pyddoke Scientist & Archaeology iv. 84 The hornblende probably represents poecilitic olivine.

1993 Jrnl. Petrol. 34 681 The fine-grained basaltic zones grade upwards, into medium-grained (> 1 mm) poikilitic, olivine gabbro with small-scale modal layering.